Local Personalities > outstanding legacies // 1860s

Michael Loam Inventor of the Man Engine

Michael Loam, ca 1860s, Tresavean Mine Engineer and inventor or developer of the Man Engine, was born on the 1st November 1797 at Ludgvan, Cornwall. He died on the 14th July 1871 and was buried in Gwennap churchyard.

He built the first Cornish Man Engine at the Tresavean mine in Gwennap Parish in 1842, adapted from a German design, to win a competition sponsored by the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society. After a successful trial period, the Tresavean Mine's Directors gave the go ahead to extend down to the 248 fathom level, the first of 16 such engines to be built in Cornwall.